1. What is the possibility we could make ubusb.c32 run on CDShell? I was thinking, if we could get a single menuing system to run across both CD and USB, then we could have a unifiied release. Furthermore, if we could hide non-working entries on specific devices (eg. hide Windiag when UBCD boots from USB), that will make it even better.

2. Is there an easier way to initialize the USB drive? Some dd or rawrite -equivalent utility that will just transfer a finished image to the USB drive? That will lower the bar to test drive the final image, and more people will become interested.

1. What is the possibility we could make ubusb.c32 run on CDShell? I was thinking, if we could get a single menuing system to run across both CD and USB, then we could have a unifiied release. Furthermore, if we could hide non-working entries on specific devices (eg. hide Windiag when UBCD boots from USB), that will make it even better.

I believe we could have ubusb.c32 running from a CD if we used isolinux instead of syslinux. One of the problems is that you would like an iso image for the CD version, while for the usb version, the iso image is not very useful. We could stick with the iso image, and make people copy the contents to the usb drive if they want. I believe UBCD could use the modified images instead of the current ones (the igz ones instead of iso ones, for example, and the updated freedos image), to improve compatibility with the usb version, and actually reduce some space.

Quote:

Is there an easier way to initialize the USB drive?

Actually, if you put all the contents that you want in a subfolder of makebootfat called image, you can actually use

BTW, Syslinux current stable version is 3.09: http://syslinux.zytor.com/I'll try to find some time to test it tomorrow on my work since I earlier got
mixed results when using makebootfat. It appeared that a lot of my machines at work would not boot from syslinux-makebootfat-USB, while they would boot from BartPE-USB made bootable with the HP-utility. But you used the original mbr.bin from syslinux so that might make a difference.

(2) When the geometry is fixed for each USB drive one could probably create an image. On the other hand, makebootfat can be told to add the contents of a dir when making the USB drive bootable, which means that by proper setup of this dir, one makebootfat-run would suffice.

Ok I think I am ready to explain how to create the Ultimate UBCD on a USB drive, despite the lack of interest in the poll (there are only 5 votes). Still, this thread seems to have quite a few views...

[...]

I hope somebody finds this useful.

Of course we do

Thank you so much reblu (and NwDsk) for your important work to answer my question.

There's no many answers to the poll because I think people don't guess how such a tool will be useful in the close future, when all hardware will allow to boot on USB keys.

I'm really sorry to have not helped you but all that stuff is far too technical for me.

I actually tested it with a Flash Drive, aka USB key (a Cruzer Micro 256MB, to be specific). I also did some minor testing with a Compact Flash connected to a card reader. So I guess anything under 1GB connected to an USB port should work. Syslinux has the limitation of the 1GB limit.

I also think it is useful. You can go around with a USB Flash drive in key chain, and it is faster, more resistant (you don't have to worry about scratchs) and it allows writing on it. As USB keys become more and more affordable and hardware becomes more compatible, I hope this will become a useful tool.

I actually tested it with a Flash Drive, aka USB key (a Cruzer Micro 256MB, to be specific). I also did some minor testing with a Compact Flash connected to a card reader. So I guess anything under 1GB connected to an USB port should work. Syslinux has the limitation of the 1GB limit.

I also think it is useful. You can go around with a USB Flash drive in key chain, and it is faster, more resistant (you don't have to worry about scratchs) and it allows writing on it. As USB keys become more and more affordable and hardware becomes more compatible, I hope this will become a useful tool.

I exactly think like you.

But I may encounter some problem with the Syslinux limit as I have a 2 GB USB Key

Just unzip to a new directory. Then go to that directory and run
'ubcd2usb <path-to-ubcd> <usb-drive>'

I just included all stuff indicated by Reblu into this zip-file and created a batch-file that copies everything to the correct places. You will only need an UBCD-CDROM (or an UBCD-CDROM extracted somewhere on your machine) and a USB-key.

Reblu, this USB-thing is all your work so please grab ubcd2usb and alter it the way you feel or whatever. Just trying to help.

Well, create a new-dir 'C:\Ubcd2usb'. Extract the contents of 'ubcd2usb.zip' to dir 'C:\Ubcd2usb' with whatever you normally use to handle zip-archives. Now open a command-prompt (dos-box) and change to this dir with 'cd \ubcd2usb'. Assuming you have an UBCD-CDROM in drive 'E:' and an USB-key in drive 'F:', enter the command 'ubcd2usb e: f:' in the dos-box. That should do it.

According to the guys at makebootfat, by using the -Y option you overcome the 1GB limitation:

Quote:

Enforce the syslinux 3.xx FAT support. Syslinux 3.00 supports all the FAT types and sizes but it requires a special customisation of the boot sector and of the file `ldlinux.sys'. This option does this customisation without the need to use the syslinux installer if the `ldlinux.sys' file is copied on disk with the -c option.

I actually had that option in my instructions, so in theory you should be able to use one single 2GB partition in your USB key... You can try it and let us know...

According to the guys at makebootfat, by using the -Y option you overcome the 1GB limitation:

Quote:

Enforce the syslinux 3.xx FAT support. Syslinux 3.00 supports all the FAT types and sizes but it requires a special customisation of the boot sector and of the file `ldlinux.sys'. This option does this customisation without the need to use the syslinux installer if the `ldlinux.sys' file is copied on disk with the -c option.

I actually had that option in my instructions, so in theory you should be able to use one single 2GB partition in your USB key... You can try it and let us know...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum